Barnsley College UCU to take 4 day strike

10 March 2015

BARNSLEY COLLEGE STRIKE UPDATE

BARNSLEY COLLEGE 4-DAY STRIKE Barnsley College UCU members will take 4 days of strike action (16th, 17th, 19th and 20th March) as part of a campaign of escalating action in their contract dispute. They have taken 6 days of action since October and are currently seeking talks but management now appear to be refusing to meet. Action was suspended in the last week of February as a gesture of good will. Furthermore in response to some concessions from management, UCU sought further movement without the threat of action, including a concession from UCU’s side. Instead of taking the opportunity to potentially resolve the dispute, management refused to agree. Members met following this and voted unanimously to escalate action to put pressure on management to meet the demands of the union. Management spent last week and part of this week targeting UCU members for 1-1s on the premise of asking whether they will be striking. In many instances members reported further questioning and threats about job security, career progression and capability should they engage in further action. Further to this some managers suggested members join another union! There are also reports that management plans to employ ‘scab labour’ instead of agreeing talks with UCU to potentially prevent further action and resolve the dispute. What appears to be evolving is a management position based on intimidating individual UCU members and an attempt to ‘break the union’ rather than enter talks to resolve the dispute. Please send messages and donations payable to Barnsley College UCU, to lee.short1975@gmail.com / Barnsley College UCU c/o 43 Granville Street, Barnsley, S75 2TQ.